1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for demonstrating the movement of heavenly objects through the universe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common practice to provide an astronomical display system based on the Copernicus theory of the universe. Copernican Planetariums are the most familiar example of this theory which illustrate how the planets of the solar system traverse in circular motions about a stationary Sun. Such planetariums also show the moons of the planets, on a much smaller scale, traversing the same type of circular motion around their corresponding planets.
The Copernican approach is 473 years old and is misleading. Observers of such a demonstration obtain the misconceived concept that the Sun is fixed in space. On the contrary, the Sun has been determined to be moving at a velocity of 12 miles per second towards a point on the star sphere situated in the constellation Lyra not far from the first magnitude star Vega.
In addition, the planets do not move in a circular path about the Sun, but rather they move in ellipsoidal paths with the Sun comprising one of the focal centers of each ellipse. Thus, each planet occupies a perihelion point along the major axis of the ellipse which is the point closest to the Sun, and a point of maximum distance on the major axis, the aphelion point. This ellipsoidal orbit is the orbit that most heavenly objects take when in motion around another heavenly object.
As the Sun, therefore, moves towards Vega, the entire ensemble of planets also move towards Vega and the paths the planets take resemble the configuration of an ellipsoidal spiral staircase.